Up next, an oral history with u. S. Army veteran baldwin myers, recorded in 2015 by the korean war legacy foundation. He talked about his time in korea and how the experience shaped his life after the war. He was eventually diagnosed with ptsd. The interview project was underwritten by south koreas ministry of patriots and veterans affairs. Baldwin i am baldwin frank myers. My first name is spelled b as in boy, aldwin. In the army i was known by my buddies as baldy. [laughter] but when when i reported back to them years later, 30 years later, that this is frank myers and i wanted to talk to them, they didnt know who i was because they only knew me as baldy. But we when we got that cleared up, then Everything Else flowed. Interviewer and could you spell your last name . Baldwin myers. Interviewer what is your birthday . Baldwin may 29, 1931. Interviewer where were you born . Baldwin in owyhee county, idaho. That is spelled that is the indian name owyhee county, idaho. Thats near Jordan
Because we were the first to lose our jobs when old man depression came along, and the last to get them back. We struggled vainly to regain our bearings while depression, fear and failure took stock of the nation. A 10th of the population of the United States one 6th of the unemployed. One out of every four of us was on relief. In vain, we looked for something to restore our confidence and hope and our courage. Without jobs we had no money and without money we could not purchase food for the hungry mouths at home. Our only hope lay in charity. Hunger drove people to the bread lines, anxiously waiting for a sign of better days. Then came the federal governments work program. One by one, it took us out of the bread line and gave us a new chance to take a normal place in the life of our community. It made us selfsupporting. It changed the haggard hopeless faces of the bread line to the faces filled with hope and happiness. For now, we work again unskilled laborers, the forgotten men of pa
Interviewer you are not baldy. Baldwin no. But when when i reported back to them years later, 30 years later, that this is frank myers and i wanted to talk to them, they didnt know who i was because they only knew me as baldy. But we when we got that cleared up, then Everything Else flowed. Interviewer and could you spell your last name . Baldwin myers. Interviewer what is your birthday . Baldwin may 29, 1931. Interviewer where were you born . Baldwin in owyhee county, idaho. That is spelled that is the indian name owyhee county, idaho. Thats near Jordan Valley on the oregonidaho line. Interviewer owyhee. Baldwin owyhee. Yes. Interviewer that is the indian name. Baldwin that is indian. I dont know what it means. [laughter] probably beautiful country. Interviewer tell me about your family when you were growing up. Baldwin well, i grew up on a cattle ranch about five miles south of Jordan Valley, and my mother was born in east europe. She was austrian, and my father was an old cowboy who